wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress admin captcha”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “wordpress admin captcha”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

DS CF7 Math Captcha shows at wp.org #12 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #1 ↑1 2

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #2 ↑1 3

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #8 ↓7 5 too low 4

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5

WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #6 1 too low 6

Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #9 ↑4 3 too low 7

SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #4 3 too high 8

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #15 ↓4 7 too low 9

Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #3 ↑2 6 too high 10

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #10 ↓1 11

Captcha Code 100K+ · 3.9★ (35) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 too high 12

Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #17 5 too low 13

Admin Custom Login 10K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #24 10 too low 15

Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too high 16

CAPTCHA 4WP – Antispam CAPTCHA solution for WordPress 100K+ · 3.2★ (269) wp.org #14 2 too high 17

oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #22 ↓2 4 too low 19

LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #19 ↓2 20

Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↑3 7 too high 21 D DS CF7 Math Captcha 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #12 9 too high 22

All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #18 ↑4 5 too high 24

Kitgenix CAPTCHA for Cloudflare Turnstile 700+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.